Quick Dust Update

So I sat down and gave Dust another shot. In all fairness, it is a fun FPS game. There is still a lot of work to do but I can't get much more specific then that.

Everything in my previous post still holds true for me, though.Therefore I think Dust is being released at a severe disadvantage. However, because its free there will definitely be an influx of players. Will those players buy anything and pay CCP's bills? That's something I certainly can't answer...

 MJ Out

Dust 514: Implementation Is Everything

Below is a blog post I began writing well before Dust 514 was in Beta. Hence you'll notice that most of the critique does not center around game play, nor should it. I believe all of my arguments still hold true today -even more so after extensively playing the beta... I will have even more to say later once the NDA is lifted.




So first things first: I hate incessant whining and blogs where the author complains about everything endlessly. They aren't fun to read, especially when little or no constructive criticism is given. With that said... Its about time to explain why I am not excited about Dust 514 in the least.

Unsustainable Platform and Fickle Customer Base

 At some point the decision was made to put Dust exclusively on consoles. It was then realized that the only console with a gaming network capable of supporting what CCP wanted to do was Sony. Hence we have Dust coming out on the PS3 only.

 First lets look at the platform. The PS3 is near the end of its life cycle. Sony has publicly stated they do not intend to release another gaming console -whether this is true or not we don't know. Either way the PS3's days are numbered. How much longer will the console even be supported by Sony? One Year? Two years? Perhaps this doesn't matter to CCP, but it should. (I will explain why below.)

 Our next consideration is the transitory nature of console gaming and gamers. We all know the pattern well. Play the hell out of a game for a week or two, then move on to the next "big thing". Perhaps the game will be picked up again some other time, but most likely it will just be put back down again. This marketing model benefits Sony. Does it benefit CCP or any company marketing a long term product? Obviously the answer to my rhetoric is no. Sony doesn't want us playing console games too long. They want us buying the next hot product. This is the strategy Sony uses to make money, and what the customer base expects, and to a large extent, wants.

 As the customer base on the PS3 falls off, which it will, the players left will find less and less reasons to play. Anyone coming back to the game will find less opportunities to play. This is the the spiraling problem of online games developed exclusively for consoles. CCP has effectively attempted to merge a very short-term venture into a very long-term universe. What could have solved this? Releasing a PC version, for one.

 For these reasons I think  releasing Dust on console only, and exclusively for PS3 was a huge mistake. Once any initial excitement wares off CCP can expect zero support from Sony and a dying customer base.

Duplicated Development Paths and Limited Tools

 CCP has spent a vast amount of resources completely rebuilding Eve Online from the ground up in a way that supports future development and all new environmental rendering, aka Walking In Stations.

Do you think this rendering engine could support an FPS game?

 This begs the question: Why would CCP then pay to use the Unreal 3 Engine (U3E), which is dated and has inferior graphics to reproduce a large portion of the work they have already done? For a game directly tied into Eve? Clearly they did not choose U3E for cross-platform compatibility. Was it for a faster development to market cycle? For ease of console programming? Whatever the reasons it is a clear duplication of work already done for the Carbon engine.

 Of all the poor decisions made by CCP regarding Dust I find this one to be the most striking. They have locked themselves into an engine with severe long term limits. There is only so much retro- fitting one can do to the Unreal Engine graphically or algorithmically. I guarantee you CCP has already hit a number of these limits. Worse yet, how much the two games can be inter-connected is permanently limited by this decision. More on this one below...

 A Future Vision Lost

"Eons ago" when CCP first gave clues they were working on an FPS game at Eve Fanfest I was really excited. An FPS game in the Eve universe? What could be better? As any dreamer would, I began to imagine... I could see myself docking in a station to take a shuttle to a planet. I could see wars spanning from battles in space, to fights in stations, to fights on the planet surface and beyond. I could see all this intertwined within a single system in which players could take on different roles with the same character, or at least within the same seamless universe.

 Sadly, none of this possible, at least not between Dust and Eve. Platform and Engine incompatibility has created a hard wall which limits any possibilities of major expansion between the two games. Could Eve ultimately be updated in this way? Perhaps... But certainly not any time soon, especially with such a large portion of CCP's staff working on an entirely different product. I really think a massive error was made here and great opportunities lost. The vision of a true science fiction simulator was thrown by the wayside.

The Culmination of Errors

 So lets recap:

 - A game released on a single console with an extremely limited software life cycle.

 - A user base that does not stay with any game for too long.

 - A dated engine that limits expansion.

 - No possible cross platform compatibility.

 - The repeating of work done to produce 3D environments for Carbon and the Unreal Engine.

 - Future merging of these two worlds is largely impossible.

  I really can't see Dust doing well at all. Note you, I haven't even begun to talk about the game itself. These are all simply business decisions.


 For these reasons, when CCP Helmar issued a public apology I fully expected it to end with him stepping down as CEO. Why? Because his business decisions as the leader of the company had been so poor. Those of you not living in the states may wonder why our companies tear through CEOs so quickly sometimes. The reason is simple. When leaders exhibit a certain level of incompetence it compromises the trust others can give them. This includes subordinates within the company, but more importantly investors and customers. Do I question Helmar's ability to lead CCP into any kind of future considering the disastrous decisions he has made regarding Dust? You bet, but then again, I want to be proven wrong (more on this below).

I Hope to be Proven Wrong

 I am not one who enjoys condemning others to failure or simply being right. I hate the "told you so" mentality and general negativity. I want Dust to succeed and CCP to prove me wrong. I own a PS3 and intend to give dust another go on its official release. However, for all the reasons given above I cannot see Dust being successful long term.

 Maybe CCP doesn't care as long as they can make enough money in the first 3 months -who knows? But to be honest, I am nervous. I think CCP is a good company full of smart people who love what they do. I also think Dust failing miserably could end CCP games, or at least geld it so badly recovery isn't possible. Only time will tell, but this one where I really want to have gotten it completely wrong.

 So what do you think? Got a strong argument why I am wrong? Do you love Dust 514 as it is now?

"And the noobs shall inheret the internet space ships"

 So in my absence from blogging my corp joined Test Alliance. I was very nervous about this move. What could trolls and noobs do in Eve? Well, the answer is.. Everything.

 After joining Tests I got a fast and very informative lesson on what makes alliances successful. To put this more succinctly, I got a lesson in what makes social groups of semi-anonymous nerds over the internet successful.

 The first proof that something was different about Test was that they... Responded! That's right, they responded to our request to join quickly. We had contacted other alliance of "elite PvPers" and been waiting for weeks. This was with sponsors inside these alliances attempting to get us in... Pathetic really. Test contacted us promptly and was very friendly. The rules for joining were clear, as were the expectations. Behind this veil of idiocy was a well organized leadership.

 After joining we were given access to a massive amount of information to help new pilots, and those new to Test. These were pages and pages of wiki  documents that clearly took hours worth of someone's time to produce, and all to help the new player be successful. Having been in some great alliances, I was stunned by this. I had never seen anything so clear and informative in my years of playing Eve.

 After sorting everything out and joining fleets it was clear operations were quite different here. Test wears their stupidity like a badge of honor. They laugh with their new pilots.. and at them, but its all in good fun. After seeing pilots get yelled at and kicked from other alliances for fits, and foolish losses, this was really a great change.

 Test has created an environment where new players can flourish and have fun. Attrition will kill "eliete PvP alliances". As all their 100M+ skill point pilots lose interest in Eve what will they do? The answer is they will die.

 While nothing is perfect, and I could live with a few less EULA violations.. Say once every 15 minutes instead of once every 5 in fleet chat... It is quite obvious that alliances like Goons and Test are going to run this game. Alliances that turn their nose up to new pilots and the inexperienced are going to slowly die off as the Eve universe expands.

 Get ready because a swarm of scrubs are coming to piss on your parade.

Well, its been a long time my... self?

 It has been a while. Most of my limited free time has been spent actually playing Eve instead of blogging about it.

 Think I need to update this page at least once a week from here on out.. So.. Here we go!

/* RANT!

 If I ever got the alliance leadership bug again, which I most likely won't.. but if I did the alliance would have exactly six rules. Honestly I think six is too many but it was hard to boil it down any further. These are listed in order from most important to least important:

 1) We are nobody's bitch
 2) Don't  be a bitch to other alliance members
 3) Don't be stupid
 4) Don't shoot blues
 5) If you pirate someone and they agree to pay a ransom you HAVE to keep your side of the bargain.
 6) Everything else is just guidelines

 Now I really want to talk about rule number one... Why in goddamn hell would you play a computer game to be to be some other alliances little bitch? What do I mean by this? They tell you where to go and live, what you can and can't do, who your friends and enemies are, and who or what you are shooting.

 In the modern real word we all have to get along, and to do that we have to accept all sorts of things we hate. Bosses who treat you in a degrading manner, jerks who let their dog shit all over your yard, old ladies who think they are protected enough to yell at you from their front porch -and these are just the little things. In every one of these situations you have to take the high road and accept their poor behavior. In fact, they know they can get away with acting so bad exactly because most of us are socialized and decent enough to not walk over and snap their neck. When you think about it, these asshats are depending on the good will of others just so they can turn around and treat those same people like shit.

 In Eve you don't have to accept this bullshit. If someone acts like an asshole you can lay plans to kill them and take their stuff. Even if you don't have the time or inclination for a planned killing you can just tell them where to stick it and kill them if the opportune moment comes. This is part of what makes Eve fun. So why in the hell would anyone, let alone a whole damn alliance willingly subject themselves to degrading subservience? To get better rocks to mine? To make more isk? To build bigger ships? Perhaps they are thinking "Hey, maybe if we keep our head down and do what we're told we can become a big dawg like our masters!" This shit is pathetic.

 Just like in RL, if you want to play with the big boys you have to earn respect. And you do that through experience, skill, cunning, and diplomacy -not through being someone's lap dog. I'd take 100 competent pilots over 1000 scrubs who just want to mine any day and don't know shit about how to fight or survive in 0.0. Why? Because at the first sign of trouble the latter is going break down like a crack whore who can't hit the pipe.

 One final note. I have in the past been part of leadership which offered other alliances the ability to be "our bitch". Our offerings were of a small scale -pay us a few hundred million to move your freighters through space safely, be set blue for 1 week, etc. But make no mistake, as the deal was made and we collected I was laughing to myself and thinking "You sorry assed little bitches."


 RANT END! */

Risk Bad!!! Boring Good???

So good old Jester wrote his post on Dumbing Up. It always surprises me how him and I think about similar things. In any case, my response was long enough I posted it here:

 In his previous post he brought up the general reduction of stupidity in Low Sec/0.0 . While he has a point, I also think he is missing a factor which has been building up for a while and threatens to pose a serious problem to Eve. That is the PLEX.

 Players are highly risk averse because losing a ship, and now implants can easily cost 4 to 5 hundred million that not only hurts your wallet, but is posted for all to see. This is the equivalent of losing $20.

 Worse yet, looking at the amount of PLEX passing through Jita alone it is obvious the "have nots" of Eve are using this system for cash injections. Who wants to spend 20$ just to lose it in PvP? My guess is PLEX prices will continue to rise, item prices will follow, aversion to risk will become dangerously low. Why should I risk anything when I can just buy a PLEX to fit my CNR and grind out free isk all day?

 I didn't understand this until it struck me how many players take pride in simply accumulating virtual crap in a virtual world. They don't play the game to challenge themselves against others, or react to situations differently then social rules dictate you can in modern society. They play Eve to accumulate shit and feel good about themselves. Spending $20 just to lose it doesn't make you feel good about yourself. Especially if you're god awful at PvP and aren't really interested in getting better. To me this style of play is terribly boring, but to each their own pitiful existence.
 
 Also, on another note, Eve being a niche game is part of what has kept it alive so long. If CCP ever thinks they can or should compete with the likes of WoW, AoC,  or the other content based theme park MMOs it spells the beginning of the end. This is course has nothing to do with simplifying item names, which is a good thing. (Read the linked posts to see what this pertains to.)

 MJ

Quick Post: T3 BCs

 So I'm still experimenting with the Naga, but so far it seems amazing. Sure, it doesn't do the most damage, but its range is unbeatable.

 Oppositely, the DPS of the Talos is just plain crazy, but like all Gal blaster boats, you have to get dangerously close to do that DPS. The Naga, on the other hand, puts out a nice consistent stream of hurt while kiting enemies all day long.

 In the event Drakes are actually changed (aka nerfed) this may be the new anchor of sniping shield BC fleets.

Untippable Scales

 Anything made by humans is prone to error, and massive multi-player online games are prone to massive multi-layered errors. This is especially true when it comes to game balance.

 The traditional mantra in online games has been pretty straightforward. If something is completely unbalanced to the point its simply game breaking or reduces overall enjoyment the best way to bring attention to the problem is not by complaining on some community message system, its not by crying about it in game, and its certainly not by blogging about it -its by completely abusing the unbalanced mechanic to your advantage. When everyone is utilizing only a few skills, characters, items, or whatever it is, people stop playing and bad press is generated. This in turn forces companies to spend resources on the game or lose revenue. Tip the scales overwhelmingly in one direction and you get a response.

 Eve has proven to be a different beast entirely. The game has grown so big almost no one has actually experienced every part of it. This is especially true of PvP. Most Eve players rarely even leave high-sec. This translates into gaping holes in the PvP system not even being experienced by a large portion of the player base. The end result? Balance adjustments can't be forced by simple and absolute abuse of over powered mechanisms, at least not in any timely way.

 What does this mean for us, the players? ABUSE AWAY! So lets take a look at broken mechanics that can work for you. DISCLAIMER: The following techniques well make people cry, questions your sexual orientation in local, and set you red.

ECM

 Okay so this might seem obvious, but its always stunning to me how rare ECM pilots are, particularly good ones. ECMs can effectively remove enemy players from the fight at a 1:1 module to ship ratio.  They are guaranteed versus frigates, T1 cruisers, and most Minmatar ships. If for some reason one module doesn't do the job just use 2 on a particularly important target... Like your enemy's ECM ship.

 For new pilots ECM ships can be hard for one simple reason... You are despised by all enemies. You will be primaried and unless you know how to handle this you're going to die. When and how to use ECM properly and survive takes time and practice, but the payoff is.. well, game breaking -its as simple as that.

Boosters

 You see a lot of tearing on the forums about how underpowered active repair is. When it comes to skirmish battles nothing could be further from the truth. A standard Large Armor Repairer does about 800 points per cycle. However fit on a Hyperion with the proper skills, rigs, and boosters this one repper does over 2000 points per cycle. Fit 2 reps and you're repairing 40% of your armor in less then 10 seconds. When the amount of enemies involved in an engagement is low this is simply unbreakable. Active repair assault frigates were good before the last patch... They are truly amazing now. What can I say here.. Bait, bait and more bait. 

 The skill books needed for boosters are expensive, but depending on the kind of PvP you're doing they can pay for themselves pretty fast. Once again, a totally broken mechanic.

Passive Targetting

　This one is just wrong. A large part of skirmish PvP is about who has aggression and how. This is especially true in Low Sec. If you catch possible prey making a mistake and think you have the alpha to one-shot them passive targeting can get you a free kill. This is almost never used and can really surprise people.

This list goes on and on...

　A lot of attention is given to how broken super caps and titans are (which they really are), or how unfair the Drake is, but in reality these are just the most obvious in a huge list of balance issues within the game. So I say to you! Abuse and abuse again! When you find something you think is totally one-sided you may be right!


 Remember, there is no "unfair" in Eve. There are only winners and losers. Let the guy who cries after you blow his ship up think otherwise, not you.

That Dirty Thing Called Mining

 My, my so many things to talk about....

 So anyone that has read the CSM minutes, or been involved in the Eve "community" for a while knows that there has been a great deal of talk on the lack of incentives to mine anywhere but high sec, and the most insulated regions of true null. If you take a look at all the rocks floating around in Low, NPC, and true 0.0 you know this is a real fact. There are vast resources that go untouched. However, if we're going to talk about improving incentives I think we better talk about some serious game mechanics issues at the same time. One of those is mining ships.

 Take a look at any T1 or T2 mining ship. They have decent armor, shields, and hull strengths but their slot load out is awful, and their CPU/PG pathetic. Even under the best circumstance how do you protect these ships? The answer right now is: You don't. There is absolutely no way -no amount of logistics that can keep these ships alive. I know this from personal experience not as a miner, but as a responder. Worse yet, they don't even have the tools to defend themselves. Its impossible to fit any kind of shield or armor tank, and fitting guns isn't do-able either.

 Mining could be made the most interesting and isk producing activity in all of Eve and under the current system the only result would be mining ships exploding by the thousands. So what am I hoping for? I'd like to see groups of miners be able to fit guns, remote repair, and a heavy enough tank that they could give a disorganized group of invaders a run for their money, or least have a chance of staying alive until support can bridge in or arrive from a few systems away. Every other ship in Eve can do this. Why can't mining ships? Under the current system mining ships have such weak tanks you can bring logistics and a large defense force in and your enemies can still wipe your whole mining fleet away right in front of you.

 Next time I'll take a look at some other topics around low/null sec.

Confidence and Experience

 A bit of nostalgia, along with an experience in Eve today got me thinking...


 Today my corp attempted to engage another corporation. We brought 3 Abbadons, and 3 Domnix. They had 2 Abbadon Navy Issue, a Mega, a Machariel, a Drake, 2 Guardians, an Oneiros, and a Chimera... They would not engage... Why?

 Recently I was also looking back to some of my funnest days in Eve with the alliance Cry Havoc. This was the best alliance I have ever been in and probably will ever be in during my time with Eve. Cry Havoc had a very serious work ethic and high expectations of their pilots. At the same time everyone was friendly and easy to be around. CH did some crazy things in their time. It was common place for us to engage 50 enemy pilots with half their numbers... and win. We would take on our even numbers plus multiple carriers and multiple supers and win -really crazy fun times. Ultimately no one would engage CH without utterly overwhelming numbers. Why?


 In Eve, I think 99% of all players will not get in a fight unless they see a clear and usually obvious path to victory. When any group of players can prove to their enemies that through experience, skill, and success what would normally seem like an obvious win may actually not be so, those enemies react in the only way they know how: To never ever fight you unless they can be absolutely certain of a win. And for most players that absolute certainty lies solely in massive numbers advantages.

 What ultimately killed CH was the release of Super Carriers and Titan changes which made it clear CCP (for a time, at least) wholeheartedly embraced the idea that massive numbers and massive ships should dominate in all scenarios. With the game growing worse and worse, and no end in sight all of the leadership, and many of the original core membership simply stopped playing Eve -and who could blame them?


 Well, luckily times have changed. CCP seems to be acting like they pulled their head out of their proverbial ass and things are much better then they been in a long time. While some parts of the game are still completely and utterly broken, it is possible through ingenuity, planning, practice, and most importantly perseverance to simply outplay opponents and win in situations that seem impossible.

 So I guess the point of all this is: If you take the time to practice, learn the engagement scenarios, and understand the risks you can do some crazy things. I hope more high and low sec dwellers get a little less risk and loss averse, and go through the tough learning curve required to improve their PvP game. There really is a whole other world waiting for you right through that gate.

Up and Coming: Things to Watch in the Eve Meta

 The Crucible expansion brought an amazing amount of changes to Eve. So many its going to take a long time for the community to sort out the efficacy of these changes. Here are a few things to look out for:

  The Gallente

  I've been running the numbers, as well as field tests and all I can say is watch out! Gallente ships now do as much damage with rails and drones as most other races do with short range guns... At a superior distance! Worse yet, if you are unlucky enough to actually get caught up close to a blaster fit ship the damage output is simply overwhelming.

I think once the complainers fade players may actually start saying the Gal are too powerful now.


  The Naga

　High range? High damage? Yes, I'll take it! Its about time there was another reason to fly Caldari ships besides the Drake and Falcon. Sadly, even with the addition of the Naga I can still count all of the Caldari's viable PvP ships on one hand.

 Maybe CCP devs will get wild and give the Moa, Eagle, and Ferox this same bonus! We can always dream, right?

  The Moros

 For older pilots with all relevant skills trained to level 5 this ship has become the capital beast of the skies. Why you ask? Sure, Super Caps and Titans do more damage, but they can't be docked or insured -needless to say, they cost a whole hell of a lot more the a dreadnought, too. When comparing apples to apples, the DPS on the Moros is so far ahead of the other dreads right now its not even funny.